walnut 
6813 
welshnut.l 1. The fruit of the nut-bearing the bark of the larger limbs of walnut in the 
tree Juglans regia ; also, the tree itself, or its United States. 
wood. The walnut-tree is native from the Caucasus and Walnut-sphinZ (wal'nut-sfingks), n. See 
Armenia to the mountains of northern Indl^^ and is ex- sphinx. 
tenslvely cultivated and in some places naturalized hi ^alnut-trec (wal'nut-tre), H. See tcalnut. 
temperate Europe. It grows from 40 to 60 or even 100 __?7r.-_J:t.- /™«i „a_/^;„\ „ o ^ .-„i„ 
feet high, with a 
massive trunk and 
broad spreading 
top, and bears pin- 
nate leaves with 
few smooth leaf- 
lets. It produces 
the well-known 
sweet-seeded nata 
of this name, in 
America distin* 
guished as English 
walnuts. These are 
surrounded with a 
thin, brittle, and 
easily separated 
husk. The shell is 
thitiindifferentde- 
grees,oriu the wild 
state thicker. The 
kernel yields some 
50 per cent, of oil. 
Same as icalpur- 
Walnut-tree {Julians rej^ia). 
walpurgine (wol-pfer'jin) 
qite. 
Walpurgis night (viil-por'gis nit). [G. Wal- 
purgis nacht, so called with ref . to the day of St. 
Walpurgis, Walburgis, or Walpurga, the name 
of an abbess who emigrated from England to 
Germany in the 8th century.] The night before 
the first day of May, on which, according to 
German popular superstition, witches are said 
to ride on broomsticks, he-goats, etc., to some 
appointed rendezvous, especially the Brocken 
in the Harz Mountains, where they hold high 
festival with their master the devil. 
walpurgite (wol-per'jit), «. A hydrated ar- 
senate of uranium and bismuth, occurring in 
thin scale-like crystals of a yellow color. It 
is found with other uranium minerals at Neu- 
stadtel in Saxony. .^Iso tcalpurqine. 
which U largely ejpiMsed lii France and other parts of .,^411X18 (wol'rus), H. [= D. wairm = G. Kal- 
Europe, as also in Asia. 1 hat of the first pressing is used y r, , t ' A 7 ? vi-iui 
for food, like olive-oil. though ranlied less highly! that of .'^''«*' ^ ^"'- ''™''W« = Dan. Imdros, lit. 'whale- 
"■ J ' -"-■ '^ — ' •' '— >--:-.- horse, equiv. to leel. hross-hvalr = AS. hom- 
litcsel, lit. "horse-whale,' a name prob. alluding 
to the noise made by the animal, somewhat re- 
sembling a neigh, = Sw. Dan. hrolfisk : see 
whale^ and horsed. Cf. whalefish and nariohal.l 
Any member of the family Trichechidse (or Kon- 
morUlse); a very large pinniped carnivorous 
mammal, related to the seals, having in the 
male- enormous canine teeth protruding like 
tusks from the upper jaw. The common walrus, T. 
roeinarxut, the morse, sea-horse, sea-ox, or sea-cow, attains 
a total length of 10 to 12 feet in the full-gi-own male; in- 
dividuals are reported t<j exceed 14 feel; a mure nearly 
average length is 8 to 10 feet, with a girth of about as 
much. A weight of 2,500 to 3,000 pounds is aoiuired by 
old bulls, with a yield of 500 pounds of blubber. The 
whole length of the canines is a))Out 2 feet, when they are 
full-grown, with a projection of 15 inches or more. These 
teeth are used in digging for the clams which form the 
principal food of the animal, and in climbing over uneven 
surfaces of rock or ice. A walrus 12 feet long has the fore 
flippers 2 feet long by about 1 foot broad ; the flukes each 
about this length, but 2* feet in extreme breadth when 
pressed out flat. The mamma; of the female are two pairs, 
respectively abdonkinal and inguinal. Young and mid- 
dle-aged individuals of Iwth sexes are covered with a 
short coarse hair of a yellowish-lirown color, deepening 
into dark reddish-brown on the belly and at the bases of the 
limbs. Old animals, especially the bulls, become almost 
naked, and the skin grows heavily wrinkled and plaited, 
especially on the fore (juarters. In the glacial period the 
walrus ranged in North America southward on the Atlan- 
tic coast to South Carolina, There is no evidence of its 
existence in New England since about 1550; from this 
date to 1800 it lived soutli to Nova .Scotia. It now in- 
habits some parts of Labrador, shores of Hudson's Bay, 
Oreenland, and arctic regifms as far north as Eskimos live 
or explorers have gone. It has been fyund in Scotland 
of late years, and on or off the arctic coasts of Europe and 
Asia, especially in Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla. It is 
readily captured, and the systematic destruction to which 
it has long been subjected has materially diminished its 
numbers in many different places. The blubber yields a 
valualile oil ; from the hide a very tough and durable lea- 
ther is made ; and the tusks yield a superior ivory. The 
walrus of the North Pacific is now generally thought to be 
speciflcally distinct, and is known as T. or R. obeme, and 
waltz 
entomologist.] A curious genus of moths, of 
the family Tineida', having the fore wings with 
large thick tufts of scales, and the subraedian 
and internal nervures obsolete. Only one species, 
W. mrwrpheUa, is known. Its larva makes a gall on the 
stems of the false indigo, Amorpha /ruticoga, and the 
the second pressing, called Jire-draicn, the cake having 
been submitted to lx)iling water, is more siccative even 
than linseed-oil, and hence ia by some artists the moat 
highly esteemed of all oils ; it ia a gooil lamp-oil, and is 
available for making soft-soap, etc. The whole fruit when 
quite young makes a good pickle. The shell of a large va- 
riety, calleii double icalmtt, is used in France for niakinu 
purses, cases for jewelry, etc. The leaves and the hull 
of the fruit are used in Europe for various medicinal pur- 
poses. Walnut-wood is light, tough, and handsome, plain 
or with a bur; before the introduction of mahogany it 
was the leading cabinet-wood of Europe, and is still pre- 
ferred to all other wood for gunstocks. 
As on a ic(Un»t with-oute is a bitter barke. 
/*icr» Ptoteinan (BX xi. 251. 
I observeil . . . many goodly rowes of wall nutu trees. 
Coryaty Crudities, I. 25. 
2. lu the United States, frequently, same as 
blatk walnut and rock-wuliiiit (the fruit, the 
tree, or its wood). See below. — 3. In parts 
of New York, New England, and some other lo- 
calities, same as hiekory-nut or hickory. This is 
sometimes distinguished as xliagbark or shell- 
hark walnut.— Ajib-lealei walnut Same as Cauca- 
tian xcalniit.— Bdlgaum walnut. Same as Indian jrat- 
nuf.— -Black walnut, a North American tree, Jwjlaivi 
nigra, <jr its timber. The tree ranges, in rich l)ottom- 
lands and on hillsides, through a large part of the east- 
ern half of the United States, but is becoming scarce. It 
grows from 90 to 140 feet high, with a trunk from 6 to I> 
feet in diameter. The wood is heavy, hard, and strong, 
easfly worked, and su.sceptible of a beautiful polish ; it is 
pnrpiish-hrown when first cut, but l)ecomes darker with 
age. It is more generally used for cabinet-making, in- 
side finish, and gunstocks than any other North American 
tree. (Sargent.) The nuts are edible, but not very choice ; 
the shell is hard, the husk thick and difficult to remove. 
The tree grows rapidly, and is more or less planted on the 
prairies. 
They have a sort of walnut they call black tcalnuU, 
which are as big again as any I ever saw in England, but 
are very rank and oily, having a thick, hard, foul shell, and 
come not clear of the husk as the walnut in France doth ; 
but the inside of the nut, and leaves, and growing of the 
tree declare it to be of the walnut kind. 
Bererleij, Hist. Virginia, iv. "i U. 
Cancaaian walnut, the tree Pteromrya (Jtiijlann) fraxi 
ni/otia, markeil by its two-»inKe<l fruit. -Country wal- 
wad. Same a.^ Iwlian im?/iii(. — Double walnut. See 
def. 1.— BiKllBh walnut, European walnut. Sec dif, 
l.^HlKhflier walnut, a variety of the common walnut, 
said to 1)1' tlie best in England. —Indian walnnt, the can 
dleberry, Al^i'ril-'' MoUw'ana {A, triloba\. Also called 
Belffauin, country, and Otaheit'' (^aMt£^— Jamaica wal- 
nut,a low West Indian tree, Vicrodcndron Juijlaiix, bear- 
ing a small ovoid-glol>ose orange-yellow fruit. — Lemon 
walnnt. .See ?*m"Hl^n^nt(^ — Otallelte walnut, same 
as Indian Kv^(nl<^ — Rock-walnut, a moderate or small 
tree, Jwjlawf ruiiextrig, found from Texas— where it is 
generally reduced to a low much-branching shnib — to 
California, growing along streams and in mountain 
cafions. Its wood is of a dark-brown color, susceptible of 
polish. Its nuts are small, sweet, and edible. — Shagbark 
or abellbark walnut. See def. 3. — Titmouse wal- 
nut, a variety of the common walnut with a sh-ll so thin 
as to be broken by the titmouse and other birds.— Walnut 
case-bearer, aii American phycitid moth, Acrohagis m- 
giamiitt, whose small green larva constructs a black case l>e- 
tween the leaves o( the walnut — Walnut catchup. See 
MteAu;),— Walnut leaf-roller, either of two tortricld 
moths, T&rtrix riletiana and LophfKtfraJu;itfindnna, -whose 
lanr» roll the leaves of walnut and hickory in the United 
States. See cut under Tort r/j-.- Walnut sword-tall, a 
i* 
Pacific or Cook's Walrub {.Tt-tV/te</tiis or Rostnarus obesus). 
Cook's tmlrtui. It attains even greater size and weight 
than the common morse, and the hide is extremely rough, 
.See al.so cuts under tu:<k and romnaritie 
dull-brown tree-hopper, Uroxiphut cariiir, occurring on ^almS-bird (wol ' rus-berd), «. [Translation 
the foliage ..f walnut and hickory in the United States. 
White walnut, the butternut, Juglans einerea, some- 
times called oil-nut and Union-walnut. 
walnut-moth (wftl'nut-moth), H. Any moth 
whose larva feeds on walnut, as the regal wal- 
nut-moth, atheroma regnlis, whose larva is 
known as the hickory horned deril. See cut un- 
der royal. 
walnut-oil fwiirnut-oil), «. See walnut, 1 
of the Eskimo name.] The pectoral sandpiper, 
Trintia (Actodromas) marulata: so called from 
its ])'uffiiig out its breast like a walrus during 
the breeding-season. Sec cut under sandpiper. 
[Kecent.] 
walshi (wolsh), a. Same as irallowi.ih. 
Walsh^t, a. and n. An obsolete form of U'elsh. 
It survives in the surname Walsh. 
walnut-scale (wal'nut-skal), «. J.<<;»rfiote« Walshia (wol'shi-ii), ». [XL. (Clemens, 1864), 
jttgluns-regite, a flat grav scale-insect found on named after B. D. WaUh (1808-69), an American 
428 
False Indigo Gall-moth ( lyalshm amorphella). 
<r, inoth ; *, larva ; c, gall : d, section of same. (Cross and line show 
natural sizes of n and */ ' and rf, natural size.) 
moth has also been reared from similar galls at the base 
of the stem of one of the so-called locu-wceds or crazy- 
weeds of the western United States. 
waltt (wolt), 1'. [Early mod. E. also vault; < 
ME. walten, < AS. wealtcn, roll, = OHG. wal- 
Mn, MH6. G. n-ahen, roll, = leel. reitu, roll. 
Hence ult. wait, a., walty, waiter, welter, and 
(fromG. ) walt::.\ I. iiitrans. To roll; tumble. 
As the welkyn shold wait, a wonderfull noyse 
Skremyt vp'to the skrow with a skryke ffelle. 
Destruction 0/ Troy (E. E. T. 8.), 1. OlKi. 
II. trans. To turn; east; overturn. 
Verger en chariot. To wault, ouerturne, or ouerthrow 
a chariot; whence the Pronerbe, 11 n'egt ti bon chartier 
qui ne verse, the best that rtriues will sometimes uault a 
Cart, Cotgrace. 
waltt (wolt), a. [< ME. *walf, < AS. weolt, un- 
steady, in conip. unviealt, steady, < wealtan, 
roll; see ico//, f.] X((»f., unsteady ; crank. 
For covetousnes sake [they] did .-io over lade her, not 
only filling her liould, but so stufed her betweene decks, 
as she was walte, and could not bear sayle, and they had 
like to have been cast away at sea. 
Bradford, Plymouth I'lantatiou, p. 291. 
waiter (wol'ter), c. /. [< ME. walteren, waltren 
(= MLG. walteren, wolteren), freq. of waif, roll: 
see waif, v. Cf. welter, a var. form of waiter.'} 
It. To roll ; welter. 
The same Thursdaye there fell suche a calme at after 
noone yt we lay lealtergnge and walowynge in the see by- 
fore Modona, Sir It. Guylforde, Pylgrymage, p, 68. 
The weary wandering wights whom waltering waves en- 
viron. Peele, Sir Clyomoii and Sir Clamydes. 
2. To waver; totter; be unsteady: hence, to 
fall, or be overturned. [Old Eng. and Scotch.] 
Thou tcaltreg al in a weih (that is, you tremble in the 
balance). William of Palerne (E. E. T. S.), I. 947. 
walterott, u. [ME., prob. orig. a jiroper name. 
Cf. trotevale (?).] A term found only in the 
phrase "a tale of walterot," applied to some 
absurdity. 
"That that thou tellest," tuiath Treuthe, "is bote a tale of 
Walterot !" Pierg Plounnan (C), xxi. 146. 
walth (waltli), ((. A Scotch form of trealth. 
Walton crag. In gcol., a division of the Red 
Crag, or Newer Pliocene. See crag^, 2. 
Waltront (wol'tron), H. [Appar. connected with 
walrus, perhaps by some confusion with D. 
wiiltraan, whale-oil (f): see train-oil.'] A wal- 
rus. Woodward. 
walty (wol'ti), a. [< trait + -i/l.] Unsteatly: 
craiik: noting a vessel. [Rare.] 
A new ship, ... of about 150 tuns, but so walty that 
the master (Laniberton) often said she would prove their 
grave. J. Pierpont, in C. Mather's Mag. Chris., I. vi. 
waltz (waits), n. [= F. raise (> E. raise), < G. 
walzer, a round dance, waltz, < »iY//.-p»,roll: see 
w(dt, I'.] 1. A round dance, ]>robably of Bohe- 
mian origin, which has been e.xtraordinaril.y 
popular since the latter part of the eighteenth 
century. It is danced by couples, the partners in each 
couple inoving together in a series of whirling steps — 
either advancing continuously in the same (Hrection, or 
varying this with "reversing" or turning the oppttsite 
way. The regular fonn of the waltz is known as the troig- 
tempg-the more rapid form deux-tempg containing six 
steps to every two of the other. The derivation of the 
waltz is disputetl, the French often clitimiiig its descent 
from the volta, and the Germans from the alleniande ; but 
it is probalily a development of the slow and simple hand- 
ler. Its popularity has decidedly overshadowed that of 
all other fashionable dances. 
2. Music for such a dance, or in its rhythm, 
which is triple and moderately quick. Waltzes 
